We are a manufacturer of slot machines planning on moving our entire office to a new building within the next few months.

The company in charge of designing the floor plan has recently aproached us asking for our power requirements. I'm not sure exactly what they need to know when they say "power requirements".

So far all I can think of is number of circuits to be installed. My estimate is that the average slot machine draws 2.5 to 3 Amps (6A man/peak) so assuming 15A circuits are used, we would need approximately one circuit for 4 machines. Of course, that's beside the circuits required for kitchen appliances, computer, servers, etc.

What they are asking for is not the number of circuits you think you might need. What they are asking for is an itemized list of all the electrical equipment you will be bringing with you.

This list should describe the voltage, phase, ampacity, and wattage of each piece. This information can be found on a nameplate on each piece of equipment.

John and Magnus are correct: the actual load calculations need to be done by professionals - the ones actually pulling the permits and doing the work. And the calculated load helps determine the cooling needed as well. Provide that list to your designer and he will get it to the right people to prepare the calculations; be as accurate as you can with your list.

What they are asking for is not the number of circuits you think you might need. What they are asking for is an itemized list of all the electrical equipment you will be bringing with you.

This list should describe the voltage, phase, ampacity, and wattage of each piece. This information can be found on a nameplate on each piece of equipment.

John and Magnus are correct: the actual load calculations need to be done by professionals - the ones actually pulling the permits and doing the work. And the calculated load helps determine the cooling needed as well. Provide that list to your designer and he will get it to the right people to prepare the calculations; be as accurate as you can with your list.

And take a leason from Spiceworks themselves. When they moving into their new (current) facility whoever wired the electical circuits put some circuits on one leg of their three phase serviice and some on a different leg.

The result was a situation whereas a number of weeks ago, three phase service to their building was interrupted and while normal 110VAC service stayed "hot". The 110 that was wired to the "wrong" leg of their three phase dropped and they lost electric service to some systems. This should of and can be avoided.

And take a leason from Spiceworks themselves. When they moving into their new (current) facility whoever wired the electical circuits put some circuits on one leg of their three phase serviice and some on a different leg.

The result was a situation whereas a number of weeks ago, three phase service to their building was interrupted and while normal 110VAC service stayed "hot". The 110 that was wired to the "wrong" leg of their three phase dropped and they lost electric service to some systems. This should of and can be avoided.

Actually, a correctly designed 3-phase electrical service has 120VAC connected loads "balanced" across all three legs. There is no guarantee that all three legs will be working all the time.

For critical systems (servers, etc.) in an installation without a full standby power generation/uninterruptible power configuration: a server room should have circuits from all legs, and equipment with multiple power supplies should be plugged into UPS's connected to different circuits. So, if a phase drops or "browns out", the equipment will continue to function. And have a good plan for an orderly shutdown.

Also, since you're a manufacturer, if your business is sensitive to downtime - people standing around waiting for equipment to come up - you may want to consider standby power generation. The cost may be less than lost revenue from an outage.

Make sure you communicate this to your design team up front so they can provide you an accurate opinion of probable cost. And make sure your management is on board, as it ain't cheap.

We have a pretty good company that takes care of our electrical needs when we build a new building. When they ask us what we need, they are usually asking what outlets, and what types are needed where. What that means, is we break out the blueprints, and write in things, such as server closet, must have its own power connection, no sharing. Or, three outlets on standard voltage, for some of the mechanics booths. They just want an idea of what type and how many, and then they have their professional do all the calculations on what they need to set up coming in to the building, and it gives their guys an idea of what wiring will need to be set up or changed from the existing building (if its already in place).

Also, since you're a manufacturer, if your business is sensitive to downtime - people standing around waiting for equipment to come up - you may want to consider standby power generation. The cost may be less than lost revenue from an outage.

Make sure you communicate this to your design team up front so they can provide you an accurate opinion of probable cost. And make sure your management is on board, as it ain't cheap.

I'd add that makes sure you have room to grow your computer room from where it is today. The biggest issue I routinely see are looking at what the power and cooling requirements for the IT loads are today instead of where they might be. Paying just a little more up front in case your company takes off can end up saving you a lot in the long run.

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